Open-Air Shopping Complexes as a Renewal Policy for Traditional Centralities in Greater Buenos Aires

The present work proposes a comparative analysis of several renovation initiatives of the traditional centralities in Greater Buenos Aires under the model of Open-air shopping complexes. The paper starts with the origin of the concept and the first experiences in the USA and Europe between the 70’s and 80’s, in order to relate them with the circulation of ideas towards Latin America a decade later and, especially, to its reinterpretation and application in the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires since the beginning of the year 2000. The territorial distribution pattern of these policies, size and type of operations, degree of accomplishment, actors involved and articulation with other local public policies are studied as well. Based on this analysis, the urban image, the commercial profile and social practices promoted will be considered, as well as its scope and limitations in relation to the different forms and processes of metropolitan centrality, and its linkage capacity with other urban policies of territorial scale.